Top 10 Types of Consultants That Are Most in Demand

There are many different ways to look at consultants, especially because there are numerous types of consultants nowadays. There are consultants that work in big companies, small companies, some are generalists, some specialists, and more.

And in this article, we want to show and talk more about the specialized consultants, especially the ones that are in demand today. So, what do these specialist consultants do? What are their salary structures? How much do they normally earn? All that and much more as you read further.

Consultants & the Consulting Industry

The consulting industry has been growing faster than ever before, especially as more businesses seek expert guidance in areas such as management, technology, marketing, and more. As a consultant, you may draw on your knowledge and expertise in a variety of sectors to provide counsel to companies in need of assistance.

As an alternative to hiring a full-time employee, consultants can assist firms in filling a specific requirement on a short-term project or in accomplishing a longer-term goal. In addition, the consulting sector provides independent consultants with greater flexibility and the opportunity to choose their own career paths. And now, there are numerous types of consultants in the world, and this augers well for the industry as a whole.

Top 10 Types of Consultants That Are Most in Demand

There are many different types of consulting services that are in high demand right now. If you’re just starting out in business or looking to expand into new industries, the first step is to determine what consulting experience would be of interest to potential clients. With that in mind, let us look at the top 10 types of consultants that are currently most sought after around the globe.

#1. Strategy Consultants

A strategy consultant examines a firm’s long-term vision in order to decide whether or not there is a better path for the company to take in the short and long runs. These consultants work with a company’s top executives, assessing how they have allocated their resources and taking into consideration how new markets might fit into the picture.

For a fairly long time, strategy was perhaps the dominant capability. However, its relative share in the overall consulting market has decreased while implementation and excellence projects were flourishing. At present, this category represents about 10% of the global market.

#2. Financial Risk Management Consultants

Risk consultants implement their knowledge of business, finance, and mathematics to assist companies seeking to reduce or eliminate risk while carrying out operational, financial, and technological business processes. They assist clients in identifying, comprehending, and managing risks associated with daily operations.

Financial risk management consultants belong to the Finance & Risks consulting family that represents nearly 20% of the management consulting sector. Given the overlap of activity with legal firms, auditors, and M&A boutiques, determining its size is typically challenging.

#3. IT or Technology Consultants

As their name suggests, IT or technology consultants help clients in transforming their usage of technology. Historically speaking, these transformations have been focused on enhancing business processes, decreasing costs, and maximizing the use of technological opportunities, among other objectives.

Today, technology consultants do much more, including digital strategy and technological change initiatives. As technology changes rapidly, the importance of this field ensures the future growth of technology consultants worldwide is growing. Moreover, this particular category can represent up to one-third of the global consulting market.

#4. Sales & Marketing Consultants

Sales and marketing consultants help businesses develop and implement sales and marketing strategies. These are techniques for raising awareness of a product or service among potential customers and persuading them to buy it.

Furthermore, sales and marketing consultants can either work for a marketing organization or start their own company. They can assist complete marketing departments or consult with small businesses that have no marketing experience. They can also specialize in B2B or B2C marketing, which use different methodologies.

Thus, sales and marketing consultants help businesses achieve their objectives and sustain long-term growth. As a result, this capability is in high demand in the consulting industry because its impact on profit and loss is usually direct and measurable. And the category accounts for over 10% of the management consulting market.

#5. Economic & Government Policy Consultants

Economic consultants help with research, performing market surveys, analyzing policy, and in providing expert evidence. In general, they strive to simplify the complexities of economic issues. Moreover, economic consultants examine the financial health of businesses and make recommendations for how to enhance and adjust existing programs.

They also advise businesses on how to formulate or alter their economic policies in response to market fluctuations and trends. In addition to business, economic & government policy consulting also can help with their expertise in various fields such as crime, education, law, politics, religion, and war.

And now, there is a relatively new and rapidly developing area of economic consulting and such consultants are known as economic & strategy consultants. They are pretty much one sub-category and is part of the strategic family of consulting.

#6. Human Resources Consultants

A Human Resources consultant, also called Human Capital, provides advice to clients on human resource policies. Employee training, benefits administration, creating goals and communicating them to lower-level employees, and documentation processes for new hires are all examples of HR policies that can be implemented. They also make certain that their clients’ compliance procedures for personnel information are up to date, as well as optimizing the workflow for front-line supervisors.

Since the capability has low entry barriers and numerous consultants are starting their own businesses, this market is highly fragmented. Despite the large number of players, market share concentration is modest. The top four companies produce over 20% of the industry’s revenue. Besides, this category represents about 10% of the whole consulting market.

#7. Regulatory Compliance Consultants

Regulatory compliance specialists help companies comply with government rules. They usually provide advice to top management and assist in the development of processes and programs to ensure that the entire firm complies with applicable laws and standards.

These individuals have a greater awareness of regulations and organizational management, as well as specific skills and knowledge in the industry they serve. For instance, the healthcare industry in the US. There have been some very recent changes in regulation for healthcare in the US, and this has opened an entire new business of regulatory compliance.

And this is where regulatory compliance consulting come into the fray.

#8. Business Process Management Consultants

Business process management consultants focus on assisting firms in analyzing, streamlining, and transforming their business processes. Their primary objectives are to assist their clients in reducing expenses, increasing earnings, and improving the employee and customer experience.

Business process consultants may fine-tune or completely restructure how a company conducts their organization, depending on the nature of the business and the procedures in use. Moreover, business process management consultants are a sub-category and belong to the operations consulting family.

#9. Procurement Consultants

Nowadays, creating a strategic sourcing plan is pretty much complicated and multifaceted. And because of this

procurement consultants come into the picture and perhaps to the rescue as well.

Procurement consultants help businesses in assessing their current costs, analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of potential suppliers, conducting competitive analysis of suppliers, negotiating contracts with suppliers, and implementing a strategic supply chain. Thus, they do a lot more than you can actually imagine.

The procurement consultants category also includes category management, procurement strategy, procurement processes, etc. Moreover, such consultants actually fall under a bigger category known as operations.

#10. Business Operations Consultants

Business operations consultants offer advice and/or implementation services to help companies improve their internal operations and value chain performance. Operations management consulting projects help clients run more efficiently by advising on and assisting with the implementation of improvements to the desired operating model, functional business processes, management systems, culture, and other value chain elements.

To help their companies simplify and enhance operational efficiency, operations consultants apply principles like Lean, Six Sigma, and Quality Management. And this category accounts for roughly a quarter (25%) of the management consulting business. It should also be brought to notice that this category covers categories 7, 8, and 9 that have been mentioned above. That was a list of 10 types of consultants that are in demand currently, but here’s a little bonus…

#11. Small Business Consultants

Small business consultants can help with a wide range of tasks. Some of the tasks they do include creating a business plan, sales strategy, marketing plan, or public relations campaign. Accounting, operations, human resources, management, marketing, and public relations are some of the other areas in which they can specialize.

Moreover, every small company consultant is the same in that they’re autonomous entities hired by small firms for their expertise and assistance with activities that they don’t feel qualified to undertake.

Salaries of the Different Types of Consultants

Now that we’ve mentioned a list of the top types of consultants that are in big demand in the world currently, it is only fair to take a good hard look at their salaries and see the differences. So, let’s have a look!

Strategy Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $92,494

Financial Risk Management Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $76, 734

Technology Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $81, 015

Sales & Marketing Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $63, 557

Economic Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $77, 427

Human Resource Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $75, 630

Regulatory Compliance Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $64, 951

Business Process Management Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $87, 096

Procurement Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $87, 172

Business Operations Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $76, 471

Small Business Consultant

Average Base Salary Per Year - $55, 840

A Quick Round-Up

This is perhaps only one way of looking at the consulting market (the types of consultants). There are so many other nuances and specialties as well, but this is a good start to look at the different types of consultants. And there might be an overlap as well; meaning that some consultants can be multifaceted and do the work of two. They’re not only limited to just one type.

To know more about the various degrees of specialization and types of consultants in the consulting industry as well as other dimensions too, take a look at this comprehensive guide.